Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. Adults Now Obese (Update)

Medical Xpress ^ | October 13, 2017 | Dennis Thompson

[wastedyears]

Saw a kid today that looked like she was pregnant.

[Cowboy Bob]

Best argument to end the Food Stamp program.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

But wait a minute. I thought Americans were going hungry? Which one is it?

[Blue Jays]

Darn near every young kid seen in my neighborhood is a fat porker.
When we were kids we were running, playing, pedaling bicycles everywhere...and it has contributed to a fit adulthood.
These children are essentially welded to their smartphones.

[Dilbert San Diego]

yep that was my childhood too. We all ran around and played outside quite a bit.

Nowadays, due in part to fears of child molesters, parents are afraid to let their kids go roaming around, playing unsupervised, etc. So kids sit at home more, playing video games and watching mindless TV.

[Ransomed]

The poorest here are now the most likely to be obese,
something that hasn’t happened in all of human history. I wonder if sustained uprisings or revolutions could even happen now when the poorest are so well fed with super cheap processed foods and so passively entertained.

FReegards

[Secret Agent Man]

If it is by BMI it can produce a lot of “false positives”.

BMI makes incorrect assumptions because it only looks at height and weight.

Obviously it will find out of shape people if they are heavy.

It misses out of shape people and sickly people whose height/weight numbers appear okay to the BMI scale.

It also incorrectly calls very muscular and athletic folks overweight/obese.

It is a very, very awful system. Not comprehensive and totally built on the false premise that a person who weighs less for their height always is healthier (has a lower bmi score) than a person with a higher bmi score.

[GnuThere]

Our tax dollars are getting funneled right to the Big Food companies via food stamps.

[NorthstarMom]

Yep-my son (18 year old athlete) has had a goal to hit “obese” on the BMI chart for a few years. He made it into the overweight range, that may be his max as his quads already overhang his knees by at least 2 inches. Pure muscle.

[Texas Eagle]

But wait a minute. I thought Americans were going hungry? Which one is it?

Dammit! Don't bother the Fake News Media with details.

[laplata]

But wait a minute. I thought Americans were going hungry? Which one is it?

>><<

It depends on what party is in the White House. Under Obama there was no hunger. Now it suddenly comes back.

[Hodar]

I am an Electrical Engineer, not a chemistry major. But, I blame Corn Syrup. Why? When Coke was sweetened with cane sugar, it satisfies but you only can drink 1-2 bottles a day. Drink more and you WILL be sick

Eat too much ice cream made with real sugar, and you will puke. But you can eat gallons of ice cream sweetened with corn syrup and drink a case of Coke a day. In fact, you crave more of it, as you eat it. Unlike food made with cane sugar, which satisfies and “warns” you to stop.

You can trace the rise in weight gain and Diabetes to the US Govt’s dictate to use Corn Syrup in place of Cane Sugar without (or in spite of) safety research as to what it does do humans.

[conservative98]

I believe it. Maybe only 1 or 2 out of 10 people I see in Walmart are not overweight.

[Signalman]

Supersize me.

[HonkyTonkMan]

Good observation. I have read high fructose corn syrup may cause weight gain. Many cheaper foods contain HFCS. Lower-income/fixed income people buy cheaper foods. Alternately fresh, non-processed foods are expensive.

It stands to reason poor people are overweight due to consumption of cheaper, less healthy, processed foods.

I have worked to limit my consumption of HFCS and processed foods. Very hard to avoid completely.

[lee martell]

I recall when GWB was in office. He was surprised and amused that the medical records showed him to be clinically obese.
Going by BMI numbers alone. GWB has never been obese, at least not as an adult.

[Signalman]

Back in the 1950s, a kid would get a bottle of sugar sweetened Coke and the standard size was 12oz.

Now, it’s sweetened with HFCS and it’s what, 32oz?

[Yardstick]

So true. The BMI is a simple metric for tracking general trends in body composition of populations over time. It is a statistical tool. It was never intended to say anything about individuals.

[familyop]

Fear of going for walks or engaging in other healthy outdoor activities adds to the problem in many areas (increasingly more dangerous dog breeds on the loose along rural roads, fears of molesters, fears of being noticed by gossips, fears of socially and legally approved, armed drug addicts with high incomes and expensive lawyers, etc.).